Nearly 134,000 NY'ers Signed Up For Health Exchange

ALBANY New York's health exchange has signed up nearly 134,000 New Yorkers since it opened Oct. 1, the Health Department said Friday.

The goal is to sign up 1 million uninsured New Yorkers over the next three years. The exchanges open Jan. 1, and enrollment runs through March 31.

The state has yet to detail how many people have actually enrolled in the program. The health exchange website was overwhelmed in the first few days after it opened, with more than 30 million visitors.

Donna Frescatore, the executive director of the New York Health Benefit Exchange, said the problems with the site have been resolved. The state has a hotline to enroll uninsured New Yorkers and 50 sites where "navigators" are available to help people enroll.

"We know that people are coming to our website and applying from all over the state," Frescatore said. "We know that our navigator organization, they are 50 of them, are assisting people all over the state."

The Health Department said that the customer-service center has helped 62,000 New Yorkers since it opened.

For more information about the exchanges, visit www.nystateofhealth.ny.gov, or call 1-855-355-5777.